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Consumer Information

Buying Spectacles - Your Optometrist or Online?

A recent media report tried to paint optometrists as charging unusually high mark-ups when selling spectacles. However, the segment only provided the "sensational" part of the story.

If you are considering the purchase of spectacles from an online site ratherthan an optometrist, perhaps these points will help to clarify the differences in the transactions for you:

• For some spectacle purchases, online sites may be less expensive - but that is not always the case. You need to make sure you are comparing like with like.


• Ask the online provider to supply you with the product name and code on the arm of the spectacles so that you can make a genuine product comparison.


• Make sure that any purchase is for current stock, not end-of-line or superseded models. These can be heavily discounted but can also be very hard to get parts for in the future.


• How reputable is the online supplier? Will they be there to support you if the frame and lenses aren't quite what you expected? Internet forums are a-buzz with horror stories of Australian internet spectacle sellers who have provided poor quality products and them seemingly have vanished!

Purchasing spectacles from your optometrist has a lot of advantages:

• Firstly, your optometrist has made a very sizeable investment in examination equipment, training, stock and premises - they will be there tomorrow if you have a problem!


• Almost all practising optometrists are members of the Optometrists Association of Australia - a professional organisation that has been around for over 100 years. If problems do arise, then you have a number of avenues of redress open to you.


• You can see and try on many different styles and colours of frames at your optometrist - impossible to do from a website.


• Spectacles are not one size - in fact there are very different sizes available. Your optometrist can advise you on appropriate sizes to suit you. Websites can't.


• Frames are just part of the equation. The lens - what you actually look through - offers almost as many options as the frames. When you are offered a 'lens' what exactly are you getting?


• Sometimes your new spectacles will need adjustment. Your optometrist does this as part of their service. How will an online supplier do this for you?


• On occasion your spectacles may need some attention under warranty. Your optometrist is there and available to take care of this quickly and efficiently. An online supplier will ask you to mail the spectacles back to them - what will you do whilst your spectacles are away for an indeterminate period?

In the end, the choice of where you purchase your new spectacles is entirely up to you, but remember, for expertise, service, convenience and, most importantly, value, you can't go past your optometrist!